I don't see why replacing Downey would be necessary anyways. By the time he leaves, there will have already been an Iron Man trilogy, why the need for a fourth movie (especially so soon)? Especially when Marvel has a number of other franchises they're trying to jumpstart.

I think Robert Downey Jr IS the cinematic Tony Stark, the same way that Harrison Ford IS Indiana Jones or Bruce Willis IS John McClane. And to me, getting a new actor to play Stark - be it for a sequel or a reboot - would be like getting a new actor to play Jones or McClane: yes, they COULD do it, and eventually they probably WILL do it, but that doesn't make it any less stupid. It just won't be the same.

Yeah and Jack Nicholson IS The Joker.....oh...wait....****

I love RDJ as Tony, but you can recast ANYBODY for these comic book films because most of these characters have over 40 years worth of history, which leads to 100s of different interpretations of the character. Someone may not be able to be RDJ's Tony, but someone can be a different style Tony that is still true to the source material. Again, look at Jack and Heath. Sure, overall you can tell it is the same character, but both interpreted Joker very differently and both interpretations/performances were extremely well received.

__________________"If you figure a way to live without serving a master, any master, then let the rest of us know, will you? For you'd be the first person in the history of the world."
-LANCASTER DODD

LeBlanc seems like he would be so dumb he wouldn't even know how to operate the suit let alone build it. I've seen no evidence of him playing a remotely intelligent character in any of the roles he's starred in.

LeBlanc seems like he would be so dumb he wouldn't even know how to operate the suit let alone build it. I've seen no evidence of him playing a remotely intelligent character in any of the roles he's starred in.

Lost In Space. It's not Oscar material, but I thought he did well in it.

I love RDJ as Tony, but you can recast ANYBODY for these comic book films because most of these characters have over 40 years worth of history, which leads to 100s of different interpretations of the character. Someone may not be able to be RDJ's Tony, but someone can be a different style Tony that is still true to the source material. Again, look at Jack and Heath. Sure, overall you can tell it is the same character, but both interpreted Joker very differently and both interpretations/performances were extremely well received.

I agree. The reason you really can't do it with McLane or Jones is that movies are where they were created. They really have no other interpretation(and no, the potboiler that Die Hard was based on doesn't count since John McLane is not in that book. They only took the spare plot of that book to make the movie off of but they came up w/ McLane as a character on their own) beyond the original actors who portrayed them on screen.

I love RDJ as Tony, but you can recast ANYBODY for these comic book films because most of these characters have over 40 years worth of history, which leads to 100s of different interpretations of the character. Someone may not be able to be RDJ's Tony, but someone can be a different style Tony that is still true to the source material.

How about Dominic Cooper? By the time RDJ would stop doing Iron Man, Cooper would be the perfect age for Tony. I know he's already playing Howard, but I don't think anyone would really care about that. If anything, that could just prove him worthy for the part. He's a really good actor, and was a total BAMF in The History Boys.

RDJ has turned Iron Man into a regular superhero, who might not even of been known of by non comic fans into a huge mainstream character with worldwide appeal. Iron Man is not one of the top Marvel superheroes among Spider-Man, Wolverine and Hulk. RDJ pretty much did all of this with his performance as Tony Stark. They even hired an actor on the The Avengers: EMH to sound exactly like RDJ.

I really don't see how they would continue if they don't renew his contract after IM3. It's quite obvious they're trying to get out as many films with RDJ as they can. 2 years in between IM1 and IM2, 2 years inbetween IM2 and The Avengers and only 1 year in between The Avengers and IM3. I really don't want even to think of a time where RDJ isn't Tony Stark.

He obviously loves the character, the fans and the spotlight. This role rejuvenated his career and I think he'll want to play the character as long as he can. He's 46 and he could play this role until early-mid 50's to be quite honest. He looks like he's in his 30s, and 50 isn't really old anymore.

Iron Man is not one of the top Marvel superheroes among Spider-Man, Wolverine and Hulk.

He is now. Hopefully Cap & Thor can follow suit. With established superheroes like these and the ones you mentioned with decades of stories to each other their names, the character is bigger than the actor who portrays him/her. This is in sharp contrast to characters like Harry Calahan, Indiana Jones or John McLane who have ever only been associated with one actor from their very begining.

RDJ has turned Iron Man into a regular superhero, who might not even of been known of by non comic fans into a huge mainstream character with worldwide appeal. Iron Man is not one of the top Marvel superheroes among Spider-Man, Wolverine and Hulk. RDJ pretty much did all of this with his performance as Tony Stark. They even hired an actor on the The Avengers: EMH to sound exactly like RDJ.

I feel IM has always being pretty high up on the list, he has being and original Avenger since the 60's.
Sure he doesn't have 20 different comics on the go like Spidey and Wolverine and thats a good thing, more of there stuff suck (and Spidey is my top character) but overuse of a character isn't always a good thing.

Also I would love RDJ to stick around for more, but lets be honest he isn't getting any younger, so they would have to film a few back-to-back to get him while they can, cgi can work to de-age IF done well, but I'd rather they don't go down that road.

After RDJ is gone, give Iron Man a rest while they bring in new people, then carry it on, not reboot just recast.

__________________

“If you're losing your soul and you know it, then you've still got a soul left to lose”Charles Bukowski

The next actor needs not to copy RDJ's mannerisms. He needs to bring his own personality and charisma. Maybe the next series should be somber and darker. Delving deeply into his alcoholism. Perhaps the success of the next series hinges more on the director than the actor.

Anybody remembers those ideas for an iron man trilogy similar to star wars with iron man 3 having the mandarin and all that with a big finalle?
Not happening, in least most of it, mandarin may appear but now with the change of director iron man 3 is supposed to be more of a stand alone film with more realism, sincerelly i don't thing Downey will leave after IM3, Marvel studios still considers him very valious since he's one of the things that mede the cinematic universe popular in the first place.
And regarding characters that were or weren't popular to those outside the comics i'll just say that 2 years ago i wasn't part of the comics fans and so i can easily say that i didn't know iron man until i read civil war and the film was made, he may have been important for the avengers but he wasn't really well known, i even remember Thor a bit, and from the avengers the most popular was always hulk and Captain america, i used to think cap was the big leader.

Anybody remembers those ideas for an iron man trilogy similar to star wars with iron man 3 having the mandarin and all that with a big finalle?
Not happening, in least most of it, mandarin may appear but now with the change of director iron man 3 is supposed to be more of a stand alone film with more realism, sincerelly i don't thing Downey will leave after IM3, Marvel studios still considers him very valious since he's one of the things that mede the cinematic universe popular in the first place.
And regarding characters that were or weren't popular to those outside the comics i'll just say that 2 years ago i wasn't part of the comics fans and so i can easily say that i didn't know iron man until i read civil war and the film was made, he may have been important for the avengers but he wasn't really well known, i even remember Thor a bit, and from the avengers the most popular was always hulk and Captain america, i used to think cap was the big leader.

Downey is 46 right now. Considering how spry and active he is at this age, I could easily see him not winding down until his mid-50s. So let's assume he's pretty much good to go until about 55.

Avengers, he's 47.
Iron Man 3, he's 48.

That gives about 7 more years for him to appear as Iron Man assuming he'd be too old at about 55. Feige said they're planning sequels approximately 2 to 3 years apart. So that means Avengers 2 and perhaps 2 more Iron Man films after IM3.